"A Step to the Ends of the Earth"—a step away was also the ends of the earth!
The next moment, he appeared behind the demon leopard on the left like a ghost. There was no earth-shaking display of power; he simply threw an utterly ordinary punch.
"Annihilation Divine Fist!"
His fist, carrying a trace of the true intent of annihilation, struck the back of the demon leopard's neck with precision, where its defenses were relatively weak.
Crack!
A crisp crack of breaking bone rang out.
The ferocious Black-Scaled Demon Leopard did not even have time to let out a wail before its massive body went limp and collapsed to the ground, as though every bone had been pulled from it. The light in its scarlet eyes dimmed in an instant, and its life was extinguished.
Seeing this, the other two demon leopards were not afraid. Instead, their ferocity was roused, and they roared as they pounced again, one from the left and one from the right, cutting off every avenue of escape for Xiao Han.
Xiao Han turned slightly to the side and, like a slippery fish, narrowly evaded the deadly pounce and bite of the demon leopard on the right. At the same time, he spread the fingers of his left hand, and an invisible force of shadow quietly surged.
Eternal Night Monarch—Shadow Binding!
The demon leopard preparing to launch a sneak attack from the left suddenly felt its body grow heavy, as if it had fallen into a sticky mire. Its speed dropped sharply!
That momentary pause had already sealed its fate.
Xiao Han's figure closed in again, clinging like a disease to the bone. Once more, he threw that plain, unadorned punch.
Pfft!
There was a muffled burst of flesh and blood. The second Black-Scaled Demon Leopard followed in its companion's footsteps.
The last remaining demon leopard finally felt fear. With a terrified howl, it turned and tried to flee into the thick fog.
"Trying to leave?" Xiao Han snorted softly.
He did not give chase. He merely stood where he was and flicked a finger in the direction the demon leopard had fled.
Whoosh!
A point of cyan light, condensed to the utmost, shot out like a meteor and vanished into the thick fog in an instant.
Chaos Green Lotus—Green Lotus Finger!
This was an attack he had gained a preliminary grasp of. It compressed the Chaos Green Lotus's purifying and life-giving powers to an extreme, forming a force of the finger with powerful penetrating and purifying effects.
"Awoo..."
A short, shrill scream came from the thick fog, then abruptly cut off.
A moment later, Xiao Han walked over to the corpses of the three Black-Scaled Demon Leopards.
The Eternal Night King Martial Soul trembled joyfully. Three streams of shadow energy and remnant soul fragments, richer and purer than before, seemed to be drawn by an invisible force. They became three slender wisps of black vapor and raced to enter Xiao Han's body.
Refreshing! An indescribably refreshing sensation spread through his entire body!
The Eternal Night Monarch's solid figure seemed to don a layer of even deeper shadow armor, and its majestic aura of reigning over the world grew stronger.
Xiao Han could clearly feel that his Martial Soul was only one final step away from some kind of transformation!
Tsk, these experience packs are getting meatier and meatier.
Xiao Han weighed the three crystal cores he had just obtained, then casually tossed them into his spatial ring.
Martial Master Realm Fourth Level. Not bad.
But more than that, the stirring of the Eternal Night Monarch within him made his heart burn.
Three torrents of pure energy poured in, and the Martial Soul's phantom visibly solidified. Its oppressive aura of reigning over the world bore down heavily.
A soothing sensation seeped into the gaps between every bone in his body.
Just a little more!
Xiao Han could feel that if he pierced that invisible membrane, the Eternal Night Monarch would undergo its first true transformation!
Following the increasingly distinct fluctuations from their source, he continued deeper into the black fog.
On the way, he ran into several more waves of blind-eyed beasts.
The Fifth Level of the Martial Master Realm, the sixth level... There was even a big fellow capable of controlling poisonous miasma.
Out in the world, they would have been enough to give an ordinary team of Martial Masters a hard time.
Unfortunately, they had run into Xiao Han.
His movements were elusive, and every punch killed.
Before they could so much as touch the hem of his clothes, they became snacks for the Eternal Night Monarch.
The Martial Soul's aura climbed steadily, growing stronger and stronger. The sensation of being swollen to bursting made Xiao Han's heart race.
Soon, very soon!
After he dealt with another Soul-Devouring Dread Crow that cawed incessantly, the black fog ahead thinned.
The strange fluctuations drawing him onward suddenly became incomparably clear and intense!
Xiao Han stopped in his tracks and held his breath.
At the edge of the black fog, a huge black outline was faintly visible.
It was not a palace. It looked more like an altar, most of it sunk underground, or perhaps a tomb?
The structure was made of a kind of black stone he had never seen before. Its surface was smooth, yet strangely dull; any light that fell on it vanished without a trace.
The stone was covered in densely packed ancient symbols. Most had been worn badly by the years and were now indistinct.
An air of desolation and deathly stillness washed over him, mingled with a sense of immense power that made his heart tremble.
Even from far away, Xiao Han felt a tightness in his chest, and his very soul trembled slightly.
That fluctuation... That's right, it's this!
It shared the same origin as the Shadow Demon Lotus, carrying the aura of space and shadow as it came from deep within these ruins!
Found it!
Xiao Han concealed his aura and edged forward, one step at a time.
The Eternal Night Monarch within him was more active than ever, driving his perception to its limit as he detected abnormalities in every inch of the space around him.
The ruins had no door.
At the entrance was a mass of shadow that constantly changed shape.
The view in that area was distorted. Light bent around it, and space itself warped slightly, giving off a viscous, sluggish feeling.
Pure, bottomless black.
A powerful sense of rejection emanated from the shadow, warning all living beings away.
Just then, a withered leaf was caught by the wind and drifted toward the shadow.
The moment the leaf touched the edge, it rapidly turned gray, shriveled and crumbled without a sound. Finally, it became a pinch of fine powder and vanished completely.
Xiao Han's scalp tingled a little.
This thing... It's really something!
Ordinary methods probably could not even touch it.
He continued to approach.
Nine meters.
Eight meters.
When he stepped to within ten meters of the distorted shadow—
Something strange suddenly happened!
A marvelous resonance arose between the Eternal Night King Martial Soul inside him and the shadow barrier!
The barrier, which had been full of rejection and danger, sensed the pure aura of the Shadow Dominator emanating from Xiao Han.
Not only did it refrain from attacking, but its ripples also softened, as though it had encountered one of its own. It even conveyed a sense of... closeness and welcome?
A thought stirred in Xiao Han's mind. He tentatively extended his right hand, gathered a wisp of pure Eternal Night Monarch power at his fingertip, and slowly reached toward the distorted shadow.
There was none of the energy impact he had imagined, nor any terrifying spatial tearing.
His finger slipped into the shadow barrier without resistance, as though passing through a cool curtain of water!
Not only did the barrier not reject him, it even parted to either side of its own accord, as if alive, opening a passage just wide enough for one person!
"Just as I thought..." Xiao Han understood. These ruins, or rather, this barrier, had a profound connection to the Eternal Night Monarch, and perhaps even to the Shadow Demon Lotus!
He hesitated no longer. Taking a deep breath, he stepped into the shadow barrier.
The scenery before his eyes suddenly changed!
It was as if he had stepped from one world into another dimension in an instant.